


Asker (Naga)

by TheTravelerWrites



Series: Monster Lovers: Shelter Forest [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Babies Mention, Exophilia, F/M, Human/Monster Romance, Language, Light Dom/sub, Monster Boyfriend, Naga, Oviposition Mention, Past Lives, Reader Insert, Reader-Insert, Reincarnation, Sex, Snake Monster, Soulmates, Terato, Teratophilia, human/monster, human/naga - Freeform, pregnancy mention, terato tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-25 15:17:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14979911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTravelerWrites/pseuds/TheTravelerWrites
Summary: This is the story of Asker, the Naga from Declan's third chapter. We get to see a bit more of Declan and his lady friend in this story, too, mostly because I love him and will make any excuse to write more about him.





	1. Chapter 1

You had lived many lives and you remembered them all, and in each one, they were there. Sometimes they were a man, sometimes a woman, or both, or neither. Sometimes they were your childhood friend that lived next door, sometimes it took you decades to find them. But you always knew them for what they were, your mate for eternity. You were fortunate; not everyone had the joy of knowing who they were meant for, but you did. All it took was to look them in the eye, and you knew.  
  
You parents didn’t believe you when you told them about your past lives. They thought you were just making up tales. While you were growing they found it cute, but as an adult, they found it less so. Eventually they told you to stop telling these stories. It would be hard to marry you off if your suitors found you strange.  
  
You had no plans to marry, not unless it was to the love of your distant memories. Of course, you couldn’t tell your parents that.  
  
One day, while collecting eggs from the quails in their pen, you felt a pull, an undeniable tugging toward the forest. It told you to go, and soon, or you would miss your chance. Panicking slightly, you dropped the egg basket, ran inside and filled a bag haphazardly, telling your confused mother that you would be back soon. In reality, you wouldn’t stop looking until you found them. You knew what this pull was: something was wrong. They were calling you. They needed you now.  
  
The wide, wide forest was supposed to be wildly dangerous for anyone, not just small women with no weapons or fighting experience, but you didn’t care. You had to find them. Pulling on your cloak, shouldering the bag, and picking up a walking stick, you ignored the main road and walked straight into the woods without hesitation.  
  
You searched relentlessly, without food or sleep, for two days. You kept walking when it rained, and when it was pitch black, and when the fog was so thick you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face. You could feel them fading with each step you took, and you knew soon it would be too late. The panic had gripped you so hard that it forced you to keep moving, indifferent to cold, hunger, and pain.  
  
You kept going until you heard the carrion birds crying and circling overhead. Carrion birds didn’t attack; they waited for their prey to die. You ran then, terror fueling your steps.  
  
“Please don’t die,” You gasped. “Please, please don’t die.”  
  
You followed the birds to a stream that ran red.  
  
“Oh, gods,” You whispered, hurrying upstream.  
  
There, past a highish rock wall that you had to scale, was a small pool, dark red with blood. In it, there lay a man, gored from who knew what kind of creature. Only his head and shoulders were out of the water, heavy gashes covering both. The rest of him lay under the murky red pool.  
  
Was this them? You couldn’t tell yet, you hadn’t seen his eyes. Well, whoever he was, he needed help. You couldn’t leave him like this. Whispering a silent prayer for your love to forgive this slight detour and willing them to wait for you, you took the wounded man by the arm and tugged.  
  
He was far too heavy to pull out of the water, but you tried to turn him over. It took several heaves, but you managed it. There were claw marks on his chest as well, deep ones.  
  
“Hold on,” You said. “Just hold on.”  
  
You had to get him out of the pool if you were to treat him, but you couldn’t do it yourself. He had lost too much blood to regain consciousness. You’d have to find help.  
  
“I’ll be back, I promise,” You said, smoothing his dark, wet hair out of his face.  
  
The stream led into a river, and you followed it down, running recklessly, stumbling on the rocks in your haste, your breathing coming in sharp pants that cut through your lungs like a knife.  
  
“Hey!” You heard a shout to your left. There was a woman there with a bow and quiver of arrows, wearing a hunter’s coat, waving her hands above her head. You stopped, gasping for breath.  
  
“Help!” You called. “Help! There’s a man in the rock pool about three hundred yards from here! He’s badly hurt. I need to get him out but I’m not strong enough to do it alone. Can you help me?”  
  
“Yes, let me call my husband! Stay here, I’ll be back!” She dashed away, leaving you standing at the river with your heart in your throat.  
  
After several minutes, in which you bounced impatiently on your heels, you heard a whooshing sound above you, and the largest bat you’d ever seen, at least eleven feet tall, landed with a hard thump in front of you on all fours. You gasped and took a stumbling step backward.  
  
“No, no, it’s all right!” The woman you had seen earlier stepped down from his back and held up her hands placatingly. “This is my husband, Declan. My name is Ryel.”  
  
You stared in disbelief at the bat creature. Gulping, you told them your name in a squeaky voice. Declan stood to his full, considerable height to greet you, and you took another step backward.  
  
He chuckled. “You humans,” He said, his voice deep and full of good-natured laughter. “Always so jumpy.”  
  
“Where’s this man you told me about?” Ryel asked.  
  
“This way,” You said, turning, swallowing your heart back down. “Follow me. Hurry!”  
  
You scurried back toward the rock pool with them in tow and showed them the man in the water.  
  
“It’s Asker!” Declan exclaimed. He rushed down in to the pool and began to heft the man onto his shoulders. “He must have fought Tota, the one who’s been challenging him for his cave for the past few weeks. I told him a cave is nothing to get killed over, but you know how stubborn nagas are,” He said to his comparably tiny wife with a sardonic eyeroll. She chuckled at him dryly.  
  
You blinked. “How… what…?”  
  
Just as you choked this out, Declan lifted the man from the water, revealing his naked abdomen merging into a sparkling red tail, with scales like sharp, slightly raised, arrowhead-like rubies set into skin, previously hidden in the dirty, red water.  
  
There was no belly button, just a triangle of scales that ascended up toward his chest in a reverse vee. He had no legs whatsoever, but there short, sharp spikes erupting from his spine that crested over where his buttocks would have been, getting smaller the farther up and down they traveled until they disappeared altogether at the shoulders and roughly where the knees would have been. His tail extended far behind him, at least eight feet long on it’s own.  
  
As Declan laid him out on the rocks away from the water, you pulled out a ointment you had brought with you. You had literally swiped everything that was on your dresser at home into a bag to start your journey, and the ointment had been one of the random things just lying there. You hadn’t really thought about it at the time, but now you were glad you had it. You weren’t sure you needed the ivory piglet figurine, though.  
  
As you rubbed it into his wounds, he groaned and his eyes fluttered open.  
  
“Don’t try to move, my friend,” Declan said. “You’re badly wounded.”  
  
“Declan?” He asked roughly, his voice very hoarse.  
  
“Yes, brother,” Declan said, kneeling down and placing the joint that was his hand on the naga’s shoulder. “What did I tell you about that pride of yours? It nearly got you killed.”  
  
“You should have just let me die, Declan,” The naga said weakly, trying to shake off Declan’s grip and failing. “I’m garbage. Tota took my cave and my dignity, all that I had. I should be dead. Let me die. Tell your wife to stop.”  
  
“I’m not doing anything, Asker,” Ryel said, standing next to her huge bat monster husband with her hands up.  
  
“Then who…?” He looked up at you then for the first time, and you saw his eyes, blood-red jewels set deep in his bruised face. Your heart skipped a beat and your breath caught in your throat, a tingle shivering up your spine. Your hands faltered in their ministrations and your mouth fell open.  
  
“It _is_ you,” You breathed.  
  
He opened his mouth to reply, but lost consciousness before he could. While you were still marshaling your thoughts, you felt fat drops of rain hit your head.  
  
“We should get him out of the open air,” Ryel said. “Should we take him back to his cave?”  
  
“It’s Tota’s cave now,” Declan said darkly. “But I know of a smaller cave near our border that we can take him to.” Pulling Asker over his shoulder, Declan began to drag him over the rock wall and back toward the river as the rain fell heavily on their heads.  
  
After about a mile and a half, they came to a cave that was slightly raised off the forest floor and pulled Asker into it, laying him against the far wall.  
  
“I have some herbs in my garden for healing,” Ryel said. “From these injuries, I imagine he’s been laying in that pool for a few days.”  
  
Right around the time you felt the pull, you thought.  
  
“I hesitate to leave him alone in his condition,” Declan said with a frown on his strange fuzzy, face. “And I don’t just mean his injuries. A defeated Naga can become suicidal after a particularly brutal loss to a rival.”  
  
“I’ll stay with him,” You offer immediately.  
  
They turned their gazes on you sharply.  
  
“Who is he to you?” Ryel asked. “As far as I know, Asker doesn’t know any humans besides me. He’s not hostile exactly, but we’re definitely not good friends.”  
  
“I only met him today,” you tell her. “But… its complicated. I don’t know if I can explain.”  
  
She half smiles and pets Declan’s ears as he’s crouched down next to her. His eyes almost closed as he made a sound of contentment that could only be described as adorable.  
  
“No explanations necessary. I understand all too well,” Ryel said fondly.  
  
The rain had let up outside and Ryel and Declan prepared to leave.  
  
“I’ll come by later with food and supplies,” Ryel said, climbing back up on Declan’s shoulders.  
  
“Thanks,” You replied.  
  
Declan shrugged her up so that she had a better grip on his neck. He was about six feet taller than her, after all.  
  
“Judging by his wounds, you’ll likely be here a while,” He said. “And be prepared when he wakes; Nagas are fiercely territorial. He could be aggressive, and if he gets an infection and turns delirious, he could attack you.” He frowned in thought. “On second thought, perhaps you shouldn’t stay.”  
  
“No, I’ll be fine,” You insist.  
  
“All right, if you’re sure,” He said, then turned and pointed at a nearby hill ridge with his wide wing. “We live about a quarter mile that way, over the crest of that hill. We’ve got a nice farm set up there, so don’t be shy about coming ‘round for food or help. We’ve got plenty of both to spare.”  
  
“Thanks,” You said in a surprised tone. No wonder Ryel fell for him; Declan was a teddy bear.  
  
With a friendly wave from the both of them, Declan scaled a tree with Ryel clinging tight to his back. She watched them as they crested the top of the tree and as Declan spread his massive wings and took off without a sound.  
  
“Whoa,” You said. Then, you went inside to tend to your patient.  
  
After wiping his body down with a clean cloth, you took the ointment back out and reapplied it to the wounds. They were uncomfortably warm, and the fear of infection was very real. He did not reawaken while this was being done. His breathing was raspy, but you didn’t hear a rattling in his lungs, which was a good sign.  
  
After you were done, you realized you were starving. You hadn’t eaten or slept in two days. Rummaging in your bag, you pulled out the waxed cheesecloth that contained a small amount of bread, cheese, and ham, eating quickly. After lunch, you went out into the summer afternoon with the rain steaming off of the rocks around the cave, looking for sizable stones to begin building a fire pit.  
  
It took the better part of the day to do it, but once the fire pit was done, you went to find firewood. Finding dry kindling was going to be difficult. You managed to find some downed branches and dead moss that wasn’t saturated and set it out to dry a little. You also stripped off your own clothes and went to bathe in the river, washing off the dirt and grime from your blind trek through the unfamiliar forest. Putting on your spare dress that was only slightly less damp, you went back into the cave, lugging the kindling in with you.  
  
You finally got a fire going, flooding the cave with flickering light. You sat next to the naga, Asker, and examined his face and body.  
  
He was badly beaten and bloody, but underneath red inflammation and black bruising, he was lovely. The skin that wasn’t covered in bright red scales or horrible gashes was smooth to the touch and a lovely chocolate brown color, with a strange iridescent sheen that shimmered in the light. He had a beautiful face, all sharp angles and lines, and his vaguely human-looking half was lithe with strappy muscles, not too big but definitely there. He had no earlobes at all, just holes in the side of his head hidden under his jewel-bright red hair, and his nose was flat with slits for nostrils. His mouth lay slightly open, enough to reveal rows of needle sharp teeth, and his hands were tipped with red claws, twice the length of a normal man’s fingers.  
  
It took you a moment to get over the shock of the realization that your soul mate was, in fact, not human. They had always been human before. Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. In one of your past life’s, when they had been a she, you were certain she was part satyr, as she had hooves in place of feet. But she had been abandoned at birth and she didn’t know her lineage, so neither of you could be sure.  
  
Just before nightfall, Ryel returned by herself with a basket of food, herbs, bandages, and a bag of dry firewood. She also had a brace of rabbits hanging from her belt and a blanket around her shoulders.  
  
“He won’t be able to hunt for himself for a few days at least,” She said, handing you the rabbits. “This should tide him til then. If you need more, don’t hesitate to ask.”  
  
“Thank you very much,” You tell her, nearly moved to tears by her kindness. “This is terribly generous of you.”  
  
She waved this away. “Forest folk look out for each other,” She said simply.  
  
“I can’t help but wonder how you became forest folk,” You said. “How long have you been with Declan?”  
  
“Two wonderful years, last spring,” She said, smiling in a besotted way. “Declan saved my life, then I saved his, and he brought me to this little piece of heaven. I’ve never been so happy in all my life. I can’t imagine where I would be without him.”  
  
You smiled a little. “Yeah, I know how that feels.”  
  
“Have you ever been in love?” She asked.  
  
“Oh, hundreds of times,” You replied mysteriously, which made her furrow her brow but she refrained from asking further. “Thank you for all the help, Ryel, really. To be honest, I’m glad I’m not going to be doing this alone.”  
  
She smiled, helping you set up a bed out of dry moss. She helped you turn Asker so you could treat his back, then bid you farewell and left.  
  
You were trying to stay awake, but the exhaustion of your journey plus the excitement of finding and tending to Asker was finally catching up to you. You sat on the new moss bed, blanket around your shoulders, and began to nod off.  
  
You awoke with a start and a grunt later in the dark. You could hear Asker thrashing in his sleep. Quickly rekindling the fire, you went to him and tried to hold him down. Even in his weakened state, he was still far stronger than you, and the second you touched his skin, he lashed out, raking his claws across your arm, cutting rather deep and drawing blood. You stop yourself from screaming out and retreat a little ways away, waiting for him to tire himself out.  
  
Eventually, he stopped moving, breathing heavily. He looked around himself in the cave, and his eyes landed on the fire, then the makeshift bed, and then rested on you. Your heart jumped in your chest.  
  
“Who are you?” He asked hoarsely, and you told him your name.  
  
“You should leave,” He said, lying back and staring at the rock ceiling. “Let me die.”  
  
“I can’t,” You said. “I’m here to take care of you.”  
  
“You’re wasting your time,” He said, closing his eyes.  
  
You picked up the meat from the rabbits you had skinned earlier and a cup of water. “I have food for you.”  
  
“Don’t bother,” He said faintly. Within three seconds, he was unconscious again.  
  
You sighed heavily, setting the cup aside. You went to his head and laid it on your lap, carefully poking bits of meat between his scary teeth. You had to open his jaws a bit to get it in there, which was rather terrifying, but he swallowed convulsively. You’d chase it with a drop or two of water, which he would also swallow. When he began to choke rather than gulp it down, you put it aside and let him sleep. Going back to the moss bed, you lay down and slept fitfully.  
  
The next few days was much the same. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have developed an infection, but after that first day, he didn’t wake up again. Several times a day, you carefully coaxed him to eat and drink, stopping when he started to reject it. You washed his body twice a day and reapplied the ointment and the herbs on his wounds.  
  
Ryel or Declan would come by each day to drop off supplies and inquire about Asker’s condition. No better, no worse, you’d tell them. Every night, you dropped off to sleep, exhausted to the bone.  
  
One morning, however, you awoke to find him perched over your body, peering down at you curiously with his bright red eyes, and you shrieked loudly. He withdrew, slithering to the opposite side of the cave, bent downward and holding his ears, his body hissing against the ground as it moved.  
  
“Ow!” He exclaimed. “Don’t be so shrill! My ears are extremely sensitive.”  
  
“Well, don’t scare me like that!” You said, clutching your racing heart.  
  
To your surprise, he said, “You’re right, forgive me. I was just so perplexed to see a human nearby. I’m sorry if I frightened you.”  
  
“No…no, I’m fine,” You said shakily. “You just startled me, that’s all. I had… never seen a naga before I met you. I’m not used to you yet, I guess.”  
  
“We don’t typically announce our presence to… well, anyone. We’re a bit antisocial, even among our own kind.” He pushed off his hands and slithered up so that it looked like he was standing and came close again. He was far taller than you, even with most of his tail behind him. “You’re the human who’s been taking care of me, aren’t you? I can barely remember most of it. I was in a daze.”  
  
“Yes, I’ve been looking after you,” You reply, a little breathless with him towering over you like he was. The raw power in the sinews of his body was glorious to look at.  
  
“Well, it was an empty gesture, but I appreciate it all the same,” He said morosely. “You really shouldn’t have wasted the energy on me.”  
  
“Don’t say that,” You said, a little perturbed. “Of course you’re worth the energy. I wasn’t just going to let you die. What kind of person would I be if I could do that?”  
  
He came closer again, leaning forward on his hands, peering into your eyes like he did when you woke up. “Do I… do I know you?” He asked, peering at you curiously. “I feel like I’ve seen you before.”  
  
“You have. I’ve been here a week, after all.”  
  
“No, I don’t mean that. It’s like… I remember you from a long time ago. Like we were friends or something. But I’ve never been friends with a human before, so that doesn’t make sense.”  
  
You had to be careful. A few times in the past, you had told him too soon and it had frightened him. He didn’t remember his past lives the way you did. You must go about this gently. He was a skittish creature in this life; he would need time.  
  
“You’ve met humans before, haven’t you?”  
  
“I’ve seen them but I’ve never spoken to one, other than Declan’s mate. She seems nice enough, but I admit she’s a bit of an odd bird.”  
  
“Why haven’t you spoken to humans before?”  
  
“Nothing to say. Humans aren’t all that nice to creatures like me, you know.” He glanced at the claw marks on your arm, healing but still red with black scabs, and frowned. “What happened there?”  
  
“Oh,” You said as lightly as you could. “It was an accident. Don’t worry about it.”  
  
He continued to frown, looking from your arm to his long, red claws and back again.  
  
“I did that, didn’t I?”  
  
You sighed. “Yes, but you were delirious. You didn’t know what you were doing.”  
  
“That’s no excuse,” He said, scowling at himself. “I really am worthless.”  
  
“Stop saying that,” You said sternly. “Losing one fight doesn’t make you worthless. I didn’t sleep on the ground in a cave for a week for someone who’s worthless.”  
  
“Well, clearly you did,” He countered. “You should leave. I’m not fit for company.”  
  
“I’m not going to leave you if the first thing you do once I’m gone is go out and get yourself killed.”  
  
“Why do you even care?” He asked suspiciously. “What do you get out of helping a total stranger?”  
  
“I don’t need to get anything out of it,” You deflected. “I’m helping you because you need help. Maybe one day you can repay the favor.”  
  
He scoffed and moved into the corner, curling up on himself.  
  
“Are you hungry?” You asked him. He didn’t reply. Sighing heavily, you took the skinned and boned rabbit meat and laid it on an elephant leaf nearby. “It’s here if you want it. I’m going to go get some water.”  
  
You went out to wash your face and drink a few handfuls of water before pulling up a bucket and lugging it back to the cave. When you returned, Asker hadn’t appeared to have moved, but the meat was gone. You set the bucket of water down next to him and moved away.  
  
“You don’t have to cut it up,” He said faintly from the coil of his tail.  
  
“I just thought it would make it easier to chew.”  
  
“I don’t chew,” She said, reaching out a hand for the bucket. It, too, disappeared into the shelter of his body. “I eat prey whole. And leave the bones next time, if you don’t mind. The calcium is good for me.”  
  
You smiled. “Oh. Sure.”  
  
The next day, you decided to go early to visit Declan and Ryel. You had a little bit of coin and wanted to trade for some food. You felt bad for taking a week’s worth of their supplies with no compensation.  
  
“You shouldn’t come back,” He said, watching you pack for the short walk. “It would be better if you went home. Isn’t your family missing you?”  
  
You felt a little bit guilty at that. You were sure they were worried about you, but he needed you right now. They would be all right for a while longer.  
  
“I’ll be back soon,” You said.  
  
“That didn’t answer my question,” He said dryly.  
  
You looked over your shoulder at him and winked as you exited the cave.  
  
“Be careful!” He called after you from the darkness of the shelter. “There are other nagas out there! Ones who don’t like humans and aren’t super picky about what they eat!”  
  
You waved without turning, trudging up and over the ridge.  
  
You found both Declan and Ryel pulling weeds from a sizable farm in front of a large hollow tree tunnel. You chatted pleasantly with them, informing them of Asker’s condition as well as his temperament. Declan lamented about Asker’s depression but it insisted it was typical for his kind after a particularly crushing defeat.  
  
You gave them the coin purse, despite them trying to politely decline it, and they loaded you down with food and supplies. They were both so sweet. Gods, why couldn’t they have been your neighbors back in town?  
  
Oh, yes, of course. Giant bat. Right.  
  
You said goodbye and started toward Asker’s cave. One you were out of sight of the farm, though, you heard a slithering in the underbrush. You turned, thinking Asker had finally decided to leave the cave. Your heart stopped when you saw a giant green naga sliding up to you, grinning viciously.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asker runs afoul of his rival, Tota, and the reader gets caught in the crossfire.

You pivoted on your heel and ran as fast as your short legs would carry you, but it was no use. He scooped you up and sped through the forest with you under his arm like a melon. You tried to scream out, but a well placed punch to your rib cage pushed all the air out of your lungs. 

You were moving fast through the underbrush, struggling futilely against the giant naga’s grip. Finally you managed to get a good breath of air and _screamed_. He grabbed you by your throat and lifted you up to his face, snarling, still moving swiftly. 

“So this is the sack of meat that took pity on that hatchling, eh?” His teeth were inches away from your face. His breath smelled of animals that died on the roadside, castoffs that even scavengers didn’t want. “You should have let him die, princess. It would have been far kinder than what I’m going to do to him when he comes for you.” 

“He’s not going to come for me,” You struggled to say, your voice rasping past his hand on your neck. “He barely knows me. I just a stranger who found him in the pool. He doesn’t care about me.”

It was true; Asker didn’t know you well enough to care about you, so why would he come for you? He didn’t know he was your mate, either, because you hadn’t had the chance to tell him. As far as he knew, you were the annoying human who refused to let him die. He’d likely be glad to get rid of you.

“Well, maybe I should just eat you then,” He said, laughing harshly, pulling you by your neck into the mouth of a cave. He dropped you roughly to the ground and grabbed your leg, sinking his needle-teeth into the flesh of your calf. You screamed loudly, echoing off the rock walls of the large cave. Blood welled from the new wound and splattered the floor.

“ _Tota!_ ” You heard an enraged voice shout from outside. “Let her go _now_!” 

_He did come!_ Your heart leapt at the sound of his voice. At the same time, you were terrified. You knew this was a trap specifically to lure Asker out.

“Asker, don’t!” You screamed. “I’m just bait! Leave me! He’s going to kill you!”

“This morsel is awfully defensive of you, runt!” Tota said mockingly. “Do you always make pets of your dinner?”

“Let the human go!” Asker snarled. “Get out here! You want to finish me off, then get the hell out here and do it, coward!”

Tota barked his menacing laugh again and dropped your leg. You screamed again as blood began pouring out of it and pooling on the ground. He grabbed you up by your neck again, cutting off your scream abruptly, your fingers grasping at his wrist uselessly, and dangling you at the mouth of the cave. 

Asker was there about twenty yards away, his brilliant red scales were raised like the hackles of a cat into sharp spearheads all along his body, flashing in the sunlight. His posture was tense and coiled, ready to strike. Declan and Ryel was there as well, Ryel had an arrow nocked on her bow but held it pointed down so as not to accidentally shoot you.

“Come and get her, runt!” Tota yelled as he had you hanging from his fist off the ground.

A deafening, bellowing roar issued from Asker as he hurled himself into the cave and into Tota. Tota dropped you and you rolled against the nearest wall out of their path. 

Asker’s eyes flicked to the red pool on the floor and the blood dripping from your leg, and a snarl of fury erupted from him. His face was changing: his eyes had gone completely red and his features contorted in rage. The split of his mouth opened up all the way to his earholes and several rows of sharp, pointed teeth rotated outward, his jaw unhinged and elongated. If he was scary before, he was nothing short of monstrous now. 

Yet you were far less frightened of him than you were of Tota. He was larger than Asker, and his face was just as horrifyingly grotesque. He had no hair, just a wide cobra’s hood that circled his cranium and ran down his shoulders. A snarling smile stretched over his face, fangs dripping with saliva, hissing as it hit the ground as though made of acid. His eyes were narrow and solid cobalt blue with tiny pinpricks for pupils.

They squared off, circling each other. Asker’s tail kept shifting so that you were behind it. Tota’s size definitely gave him the advantage, and Asker’s injuries weren’t doing him any favors. Asker still looked vicious and angry, though, growling and spitting at his rival.

You heard your name being called from outside by Ryel. “Come outside, hurry! Naga fights are brutal, get out of there before you get hurt!”

“But Asker–”

“ _Go!_ ” Asker snarled, his voice little more than the gutteral, murderous roar of an animal. His tail pushed you roughly toward the entrance, knocking you down and out of the way. You got to your feet, your leg nearly collapsing under you from the pain of the bite, but you managed to fall out of the mouth of the cave just as Tota and Asker roared and collided with each other, jaws snapping, claws flashing. 

You stumbled into Ryel’s arms. Declan stood behind her, using his wings to shield both you and Ryel from the carnage. He bounced from one foot to the other nervously, trying to see inside the darkness of the cave. You could barely make out what was going on, all that could be seen were shadows that moved violently against the dark. You saw flashes of red and green as their tails caught the light at the lip of the cave, moving savagely and trying to pin the other to the ground. The sounds the two were making horrified you. 

Tota was suddenly propelled outward from the inside and landed hard on the rocks, nearly splitting a tree in half as he grazed it. He scrambled back upright just as Asker launched himself at Tota. Tota opened his mouth and tried to bite Asker, spitting venom at him, which Asker dodged, using his forearm to keep him at bay. 

Tota used his long, smooth tail as a bludgeon, slapping the broad side against Asker’s upper torso and into the still healing gores, splitting them open again. Asker hissed in pain, but his face still bore the bloodthirsty glare, eyes fixed on the green naga. His tail grabbed Tota’s, his sharp, knife-like scales gouging holes in Tota’s skin, and hurled him away.

Asker went low, dodging Tota’s next attack and coming in from the side, claws out while Tota was still regaining his balance. Tota was caught off-guard and slipped sideways, trying to get out of the direct path of Asker’s claws only to fall right onto them. 

Asker slit him from his stomach to his breastplate, and Tota screamed and bayed, flopping down and writhing. Asker took another swipe at Tota, marking his face across his lips and flat nose. Tota reacted by going limp against the ground and breathing hard, not making any further attempts to attack. He groaned and held his insides in with his hands.

You expected Asker to finish him off, but instead he turned and hastily scooped you up in his arms, bolting back toward Declan’s territory. Declan and Ryel were hot on your heels. 

Asker didn’t stop until you were back at the mouth of the cave in which the two of you had resided for more than a week. He then set you down on your feet and looked you over for injuries.

“That son of a bitch,” Asker swore. “How dare he!”

“That was incredible, Asker! You won your cave back!” You said excitedly. 

“I don’t care about the cave!” He said, holding your face with his claws. “He can have it, I don’t want it anymore. Are you all right? Did he hurt you? Your leg?”

“My leg’s a little cut up, but I’m fine,” She said. 

He gripped your shoulders rather hard. His face was almost as fierce as it was when he was fighting Tota, even though his eyes were back to normal and the split in his face had closed up again, leaving human-like lips behind. 

“Did he use his claws or his fangs?”

“Why does that–”

“Tell me!” He demanded, shaking you slightly.

Startled, you said, “His fangs. He bit me.” 

“ _Shiiit…_ ” He hissed through his teeth. Declan and Ryel looked at each other, stricken.

“What? What’s wrong?” 

“Tota’s breed of naga is venomous. How long were his fangs in your skin?” 

“Uh…” You tried to think, panic sinking in. “Not long, a few seconds?” 

“Long enough to get at least a drop in your system,” Asker said, his tail moving to and fro in agitation. “Do you feel anything? Any pain or sickness?” 

“My leg hurts from the bite, but…” Now that you were paying attention and the adrenaline was wearing off, you did feel a sudden shooting pain up your calf. “Uh…” You bent down to rub your leg. “Um… there’s a sharp, burning pain… it’s moving up my leg. It’s starting to get really uncomfortable.” 

“Damn it,” Asker said. “I don’t think it’s enough to kill you, but it’s going to hurt. Looks like I’m going to be returning your kindness sooner rather than later.”

“Get her into the cave and lay her down,” Ryel said, grabbing up your bag, which you somehow still had with you. Asker lifted you back up again bridal-style and set you on the moss bed inside. Ryel put several articles of clothing under your head to keep the bite wound below the level of your heart, preventing it from moving faster upward.

“Declan, can you fetch some water, as well as the tea tree oil and witch’s hazel from our home?” Ryel asked her husband. He nodded and was gone in the blink of an eye.

As soon as your leg wasn’t carrying your weight anymore, a shock of pain shot up your left side and made you cry out in anguish. Your muscles seemed to want to contract on their own.

“You must stay still,” Ryel said, gently but firmly restraining you. “Movement will spread the venom faster.”

“It hurts,” You choked out, gasping, your face pulled in a grimace of distress.

“I know,” She said sympathetically, the inside of her eyebrows drawn upward in concern. “I afraid it’s going to hurt for a while. The venom must take it’s course. We have to pray that it’s not too much for your body to handle.” 

You couldn’t answer, only sob piteously, your hands balled into white fists against the blanket. 

Asker was hovering behind Ryel, looking down at you, watching you writhe weakly in pain with an indecipherable expression. He had new gashes across his torso and the old wounds bled freely, but he seemed to take no notice of them.

Declan returned shortly with the items Ryel requested, and she set to work cleaning the bite wound and making a poultice to draw out the venom. It wouldn’t get all of it out, but perhaps it would pull enough from your system to give you a chance at surviving. 

At some point, you passed out when the pain reached a peak and sent white hot fire throughout your body. You woke in the dark, night having fallen outside. Despite the heat and pain in your body, your heart was beating far too slowly. Declan and Ryel were gone, but Asker lay nearby watching you, listening closely and looking at you as if you’d disappear if he blinked. His injuries were patched up but the bandages were were stained with red splotches.

“You’re awake,” He said.

“Am I?” You asked in a weak rasp.

He snaked his way closer slowly, his scales whispering on the cold stone floor, resting his weight on his hands as he looked at you. 

“I told you to be careful,” He said softly.

You nodded, tears falling from the corner of your eyes. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry,” He said, stroking the top of your head and using the claw of his forefinger to chase your tears. “This is my fault. I challenged Tota many years ago when I was young and stupid and eager to prove myself. Which I did, I guess; he lost to me. Since then, he’s sworn vengeance and has been hellbent on making me pay. Nagas are notorious for holding grudges. He got the upper hand more than a week ago for the first time in years. He was livid to learn I had not died, like he intended. He took it out on you. I should not have let you venture out alone. I am to blame for this.” 

You shook your head. “No. Tota’s a bully.” 

“He’s a naga. That’s just how nagas are.”

“You’d never do what he did. You’d never hurt someone else just to get back at him.”

Asker shook his head in return. “I’m not so sure. Tota doesn’t worry for anyone besides himself because that’s how we are raised from hatchlings. Self-preservation for nagas is paramount. I am not certain I am in any way different than he is in that respect.” 

“What Tota did wasn’t for self-preservation, it was to settle a score.”

“All the same. Nagas behave in their own best interest. That’s just the way it is. Keep only what you need, abandon the rest.”

“You’re not abandoning me.” 

“I owe you.”

“And if you didn’t?” 

Asker fell silent for several moments. Eventually he said, “You must try to drink.” 

He brought you your wooden cup full of water and helped you sit so you could sip from it. You managed to drink most of it before another bolt of agony washed over you and you screamed. Asker set you back down gently and put a piece of willow bark in your mouth, telling you to chew and suck, but not to swallow. You obeyed, and the pain subsided just enough for you to pass out once more without shrieking your pain to the wind. As you lost your grip on consciousness, you thought you felt his hand in your hair.

When next you woke, you found Asker asleep, his tail curled around you with his head lying close to yours and his cool breath trailing over your face. The skin of his snake-like body pressed into you and of his arms lying across your waist leeched away the overwhelming heat of the venom in your skin and traded it for his own cool, soothing temperature. It was such a nice feeling that lulled you back to sleep. 

He woke you again with broth a little later, holding it carefully so that you could sip it. The pain had traveled up your arms and made it impossible to close your fingers around anything, so he tilted your head forward with one hand and carefully tipped the cup with the broth in it into your mouth. Swallowing around the pain was hard, but you tried. The effort exhausted you, and you fell asleep in his arms.

You could sometimes hear the vague sounds of Ryel and Declan’s voices. It was far away and you didn’t care. The only time you listened was when a lone voice sang in your ear in a language you didn’t understand. It was a sweet and coaxing lullaby, not to sleep but to wake up, to greet the day and smile, to be happy and free of pain. If you weren’t so exhausted, you’d have pretended to be asleep just to hear the song, so lovely that it made you want to cry for the beauty and not just the miserable ache in your bones.

You didn’t know how long you had been in the throes of the venom, but it felt like eternity. The few moments you were semi-conscious, Asker was there, wiping your brow with a wet cloth and trying to get you to drink. He spoke softly and kept you clean, washing the sweat and sickness from your body with water and soap lent from Ryel. 

If you were in less pain, you might feel mortified by not only being naked in front of him, but of him touching every inch of your bare skin when he scrubbed you down. But he was always quick and gallant and carefully redressed you when he was done, laying a light blanket over you and staying close by should you need him.

Finally, you awoke on a drizzly morning with the pain less crushing and your brain a little more clear. You looked around the cave and was startled to find it empty.

“Asker,” You called weakly. “Asker? _Asker!_ ”

“I’m here, I’m here,” You heard his voice say from the opening of the cave. He set down a bucket by the entrance and slithered quickly to reach you, holding out his hand for one of yours. “Sorry, I went to fetch water.” 

“It’s all right,” You said. “I was just a little disoriented. I’ve been asleep a while.” 

“I should say so,” He said. “I thought you’d never wake up. I was wondering if I was going to have to spit feed you soon.” 

You laughed, and then stopped because it was painful. “I can’t have been out for that long.”

He stared at you oddly “You’ve been unconscious for eight days.”

“Eight days?” You said, trying and failing to sit up. “Ugh. No wonder I’m so sore.” 

“You sound clearer, less distressed,” He said, gently pressing your shoulder to keep you from moving around too much. “How’s the pain?” 

“Not so bad now,” You said. “It’s not nearly as sharp and shooting as it was. It’s still there, but it feels more like a beating and less like a stabbing.” 

“I… _suppose_ that’s a good sign?” He said with a confused frown. 

“I’m not dead,” You said. “That’s a good enough sign for me.” 

He chuckled, turning a small plucked bird over a spit on the fire. 

“Since when do you cook?” You asked him. 

“I’ve been cooking for you for the last few days. Ryel showed me how to do it.” 

“Why?” 

He shrugged. “You can’t eat raw meat like me,” He said. “It seemed necessary to learn if I was to look after you, although you couldn’t really get much down besides broth and gruel.” He looked into the fire blankly for a moment, his eyes unfocused. 

“What is it?” You asked.

“I went and had what you might call a… _discussion_ with Tota while you were sleeping. We came to an arrangement.”

“What sort of an arrangement?” 

“He may keep my old cave, but half of his territory belongs to me. Also, he is never to interact with you at all under any circumstances. He may not look at you, talk to you, or touch you. If he even breathes in your direction, I will kill him.” 

“That’s a hell of an arrangement,” You said, a little impressed. “How did you get him to agree?” 

“I didn’t have to get him to agree; I won the challenge. I was within my rights to demand anything I wanted of him. It was rather generous of me to let him keep the very same cave he attempted to murder me to obtain. But now he knows you’re off-limits. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.” 

He turned the bird again, trying for an even browning on both sides. “He’s not the only one. Every naga within one hundred miles, and a few other creatures besides, knows not to lay a claw on you. I made absolutely sure of that.” 

Your head rocked back at that. “That’s a lot of trouble to go through for someone like me. Why would you do that?” 

“Because you’re my…” He hesitated, reaching for a word that would suit the situation. He settled on _friend_. “My friends are protected.”

“Thank you,” You said, mollified.

“Don’t mention it.” He pulled the bird off the fire and used his claws to cut it into strips. “You need to eat.”

It was a little overcooked and dry, but you didn’t care because you were starving. After the meal, you thanked him, and he helped you stand so that you could walk around for a bit to get strength and feeling back into your legs. You were still weak and in pain from the venom and the fever, so he held your hand to make sure you didn’t trip.

When you went back inside and lay down again, you looked up at him hovering over you and said: “Asker, do you sing?” 

“Sing?” 

“Yes,” You said, shifting to find a comfortable position. “I heard someone singing when I was half-conscious.”

“Oh,” He said, looking bashful. “I didn’t think you could hear that.”

“It was lovely,” You said sleepily. “Will you sing to me? Please? And if it’s not too much to ask, could you wrap me up with your tail like before? It really helped ease the fever.”

He cleared his throat nervously. “Uh… yes. If you’d like.” 

Carefully so as not to squeeze you, he circled you twice and placed you within the coil of his tail, bending so that his head was close to yours, one of his arms resting over your abdomen and the other underneath his head. 

“Like this?” 

You closed your eyes and smiled. “Mm-hmm.” 

“What do you want me to sing?” He asked shyly.

“Anything. Your voice is beautiful.”

He grinned a little at that. “You think so?”

You opened your eyes and nodded, still smiling. You felt so comfortable and at ease that you pressed a kiss to his mouth without even thinking about it. 

His eyes widened at the contact. He didn’t seem to know what to do or say, so instead he sang, watching your face as he did so. It was a beautiful melody, even if you couldn’t understand the words. Before you could ask him what the lyrics were, you had fallen asleep.

When you woke again, he hadn’t moved and was still gazing at you. He smiled when you opened your eyes and returned the kiss from the night before with enthusiasm.

“Good morning to you, too,” You said, laughing. He chuckled and wrapped you in his arms, nuzzling into your neck.

“You’re so warm,” He mumbled into your ear. “I wish you could stay for winter. It’ll be so cold without you here.” 

“Who says I can’t stay?” You replied. 

He looked at you sadly, his smile slipping from his face, but before you could ask why, he kissed you again.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asker learns why the reader is hesitant to leave him, even though they are both healed and there's no reason for her to stay any longer.

It took the better part of three weeks to be completely free of the toxin’s effects, during which time Asker only left your side to hunt and get supplies from Declan’s farm. Ryel visited often, making sure you were drinking the healing teas and eating enough. Asker seemed to take offense to the notion that he wasn’t feeding you properly, but you threw a rabbit for him to catch in his jaws, and he relaxed.

Finally, when you were back on your feet, you took to whittling small findings from spare bits of wood and bone, like sewing needles and fishing hooks and little salt spoons. Asker sat with you as you did this, watching you work, apparently fascinated by the process. His wounds were healing well, leaving only a few scars here and there. You didn’t mind; you though it made him look rather dashing.

Asker was good company, but he wasn’t much of a talker. You wished you were able to tell him about your past lives, but you still didn’t think it was the right time. You had kissed and cuddled each other, but you were both reticent about going farther than that. You kept him at arms length until you could be completely open with him, though you weren’t sure why he was so distant. Perhaps that’s just how he was. Nagas were anti-social creatures, after all.

He surprised you with a question one afternoon. You were carving a little snake from a goat horn when a shadow blocked the light and made it hard to see your work. You looked up to find him staring at you with a pained expression.

“Why do you stay with me?” He asked out of the blue.

You’re head rocked back. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been healed up for a while now,” He said, moving to settle next to you. “I’ve defeated that piece of shit Tota and regained my dignity. And you’re better; the fever’s gone and your leg is healing; you don’t limp anymore when you walk. You don’t need to stay here with me anymore, so why don’t you go home?”

Because you had no interest in doing so. “Do you want me to leave?”

“That’s immaterial.”

“No, it isn’t. I want to know what you want.”

He frowned in vexation. He knew you were deflecting. “I want what’s best for you.”

“Do you even know what that is?” You asked shrewdly.

“You should be with your family.”

You smiled a little mysteriously and went back to your whittling. “I’m where I belong.”

He shook his head dismissively. “You don’t belong with me.”

“Isn’t that for me to decide?”

He scoffed. “This is _my_ cave. Do I not have a say in who stays in _my_ cave?”

“Yes, of course you do, that’s exactly what I’m asking. Do you want me to leave?”

“It’s better if you go home. What I want doesn’t factor into that.”

“Yes, it does,” you said, punctuating each word with a growl. “It does to me. But you’re not answering my question, so I’ll ask again: do you want me to leave?”

“No!” He blurted in exasperation, throwing up his hands. “All right? Is that what you wanted to hear? I don’t want you to leave! I like having you here.” He grunted in frustration. “I’m not even completely sure why.”

Before you could stop yourself, you replied, “I am.”

He tilted his head at you. “Well, then, what is it?”

You pressed you lips together in a line of irritation. “You won’t believe me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed you with a sharp glare. “Try me.”

You sighed, not looking at him. “It’s nothing. Just… forget I said anything.”

He was quiet then. He looked off in the distance, his eyes far away.

“Tell me,” He began. “Are peonies still your favorite flower? They always had been before, but maybe it’s different this time. I am, after all.”

Your heart began to hammer in your chest and you felt nervous for the first time since you met him. You stared up at him, dropping your work onto the forest floor, your mouth open in shock.

“Asker… do you… remember…?”

“Our many lives together?” He asked you, looking down at you with a sweet smile, bending to pick up the whittling you had dropped. “Not all of it. I get flashes, moments, but no more than that. I can’t remember it the way you always do. At first I thought I was crazy, that it was all in my head and the visions I was suddenly seeing couldn’t be real. But you just confirmed it.”

“How long have you known?”

“I can’t say for certain,” He said, his brow furrowing in thought. “I didn’t know at first, but every so often you’d do something, say something, that transported me to another place when I was another person. That sly side-smile reminded me of when you were a baker. The way you pull your hair back reminded me of when you were a seamstress. The way you hum when you concentrate reminded me of when you sang on a stage for many adoring people. Little things like your laugh and the way you say please. It all pulled memories from my mind that do not belong to me but are still mine.”

“If you know, why don’t you want me to stay?”

“I do want you to stay,” He said, leaning his forehead against yours. “But I’m not like I was all those lives ago. I’m not human. I am a dangerous creature in this life, and I am hunted by other dangerous creatures. What kind of life could I provide for you? One of fear and survival and sleeping on the ground in cold caves? What kind of life is that for my beloved?” He shook his head sadly, taking your face in his claws. “I love you, as much as I did in all our lives before. But I will not damn you to the life of a wild creature’s mate. It would not be fair to you.”

“Ryel doesn’t seem to mind it so much,” You replied.

“That’s different,” He said flippantly.

“In what way?” You asked. “Declan is a fruit bat, and as such is even more susceptible to attack by predators than you are. They still make it work. Why couldn’t we?”

He looked at you with his eyes narrowed. “I’m not farming.”

You laughed at him. “I’m not asking you to. I was thinking maybe I could work with them sometimes to earn my own keep and feed myself.”

“Providing for my mate is my job,” He said, scowling.

“Yes, but I can’t live on meat alone, love. They both seem to like me, and I know from experience that work is easier with more hands. I can be paid in food. And as far as the cave, it’s plenty big enough for the two of us, I should think. It just needs a few things for comfort’s sake. I’m actually fairly decent at carving and carpentry, and there’s certainly no shortage of wood to work with.” You wave your hand around. “I think I can make it more of a home than a cave. And who knows? Maybe I can sell enough of my crafts to keep us comfortable.”

He frowned at you, sighing heavily. “Are you _sure_ this is what you want?”

“Yes, Asker,” You said firmly. “I belong with my soulmate. That’s you. I’ve lived lives without you before, and they were agony. I will not be separated from you.”

“What about your family? You’ve been away for longer than a month. They must think you dead by now.”

“I’ll go back soon,” You said reluctantly. “I’ll tell them that I married and am living with my husband. They’ll want to meet you, I’m sure, but that can wait a while. I’m going to have to ease them into this.”

“Are you ashamed of your groom, my love?” He asked in a teasing voice, though there was an underlying seriousness to the question.

“Not in any way,” You said. You stood up and took his face in your hands, leaning in and kissing his strange mouth, pressing against those terrifyingly sharp teeth. “My groom is a champion. I am so proud of him.”

His fangs flashed as he smiled and he pulled you in for a deeper kiss, his forked tongue gliding past your lips and into your mouth. You moaned and sunk against his body. Your arms went around his neck, and his arms went around your waist, lifting you and taking you into the cave. Your carvings lay forgotten on the ground.

He set you down on your moss bed, lifting your dress over your head as he did so. You shimmied out of your underthings, lying naked on the pallet below him as he lowered his body down onto you. He was heavy, but not uncomfortably so, and you enjoyed the weight on top of you and between your legs. The scales on his tail, normally protruding outward and razor sharp to slice through the underbrush as he moved, were pressed flat against him and completely smooth so that they couldn’t cut you.

He kissed you hungrily, his hands roaming your skin, squeezing your hips and palming your breasts tenderly. He let his tongue flick out, creating delicate patterns along your flesh that made your spine shiver.

You felt a dripping on your thigh and looked down, startled to see two black members beginning to peak out of a slit in his abdomen. One was thin with a flat, spearlike head, and the other was much larger with a bulbous head. They were both black with a red dusting, like freckles.

You reached down to touch the small one and he shuddered and laughed. You were surprised to feel your fingers tingle and then go slightly numb.

“We won’t be needing that one right away,” He said shakily.

“Why?” You asked him as you watched it retract, leaving only the larger one standing at attention.

“It’s for the eggs.”

Your eyes widen as you look back up at his face. “Eggs?”

“Yes,” He huffed. “That’s for implanting. The other one,” You looked down at the bigger one as it twitched and slid further out. “Is for fertilization. That’s the one with the most sensation in it. The other one secretes a numbing agent so that implantation won’t be painful. It won’t be any good for what we’re about to do.” He hesitated. “Unless your open to the idea of having babies right away.”

You gulped. “Maybe let’s wait a while on that.”

He snickered, pulling you into another kiss. You pushed his shoulder and rolled him on his back, straddling his stomach. His considerably lengthy tail was laid out almost straight behind you.

“Don’t. Move.” You commanded, pointing a stern finger at him. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity but complied.

You kissed your way down his body until you arrived at his length sticking straight up out of the slit. You bent your head down and licked the opening around it, swirling your tongue with deliberate slowness. He groaned and twitched, trying to keep himself from writhing or coiling, keeping the claws of his hands firmly planted against the ground as you had instructed.

Using your fingers to keep massaging the flesh of the opening, your tongue moved to bathe his length, flicking the head teasingly until his hips jerked underneath you in a desperate motion. He whimpered as you teased him and you smirked.

That is, until you felt something enter you from behind and you cried out yourself. Looking back, you saw that the tip of his tail had found it’s way inside you, contracting and rubbing against the sides. You looked back at his face to see him smirking devilishly at you.

He’d disobeyed you. This called for punishment.

Narrowing your eyes, you lowered your head and swiftly sucked his entire length into your mouth down to the hilt, the muscles in your cheeks creating a vacuum that refused to release him. He howled, bucking, but you didn’t let go. You held your breath and kept all of him in your mouth, sucking and moving your tongue over it like it was a hard candy.

He thrashed and jerked and gasped, but you were relentless, only pausing to take a gulf of air before doing it again.

“ _Please!_ ” He begged. “ _Please!_ ”

You sucked up and released him with a pop, strings of your saliva connecting you to him, and he collapsed to the cave floor, able to breathe again, panting heavily. His member was so hard and pulsated so strongly you thought it might explode. He needed to release badly, you could tell. Well, so did you.

Climbing up along his skin, lowering your breasts so that they scraped his hardness as they passed, making him seize up briefly, you sat up and took hold of him, guiding him to your wet center that ached from where he had poked you with his tail, and lowered yourself down onto him.

A long moan of satisfaction issued from his mouth, one that harmonized almost perfectly with your own. You  allowed him to place his claws on your hips lightly. His eyes opened and looked at you desperately, begging you to move, but you stayed put and smiled, instead squeezing the muscles inside you to make him gasp and shiver.

“Who’s the alpha here, Asker?” You asked him.

He was breathing hard, staring at you with a fierce expression, but said nothing.

“Say it, Asker,” You said, squeezing him again, and the muscles in his stomach contracted. “Who’s your alpha? Who do you belong to?”

The walls inside you clamped down on him at strategic moments, and he hissed and bit his lip to bleeding.

“Tell me,” You said, grinding so painfully slowly against him, making him cry out in agony. “Tell me and I’ll give you what you want.”

“You!” He bellowed, his cries echoing off the cave walls. “I belong to you! You’re the alpha. I am yours. _Please._ ”

“Tell me you love me,” You demanded.

“I love you,” He said breathlessly.”I love you so much.”

“Ask me to stay with you.”

“Stay, please stay. Don’t leave me. I never wanted you to go. I need you. Please. Please let me--”

“Good boy,” You said. You began to bounce down onto him hard and fast, and he sighed in relief, driving his hips up to meet yours. He gripped your hips tight enough to leave pinpricks of blood behind while he slammed into you from underneath. You grunted and allowed him to take over, comfortable that you could take control back when you decided to. You were the alpha, after all.

“Do you like the idea of putting your eggs in me?” You gasped as he rammed hard into your body.

“ _Fuck yes,_ ” He snarled, picking up even more speed.

“Do you want me to take them now?”

“Oh, gods, _yes._ ”

“Stop.” You commanded. He roared but did as he was told, his body going still but vibrating with its need to release inside of you. You held him fast.

You bent down and took his face in your hands, forcing him to look at you.

“You’re going to have to earn that privilege, do you understand me?” You said, your voice like iron. “It’s not going to be easy to earn, and it won’t be soon, but if you’re a good boy and your patient and do as you’re told, you can do it. Do you think you can earn it?”

He was breathing so hard you didn’t think he’d be able to answer, but he managed to choke out. “Yes, ma’am.”

“How do you plan to earn it, then?”

He huffed, thinking hard. Finally he said, “What can I do to please you, mistress?”

You grinned widely. “Good boy. Right now, you can turn me over, push my face into the dirt, and fuck me until I can’t walk. Understand me?”

He didn’t reply. He grabbed you roughly and pressed you against the ground, thrusting so hard into you that you felt him bounce off of your insides painfully, deliciously. From then on, it was nothing but savage motion and screaming and hissing and intense sensations that dissolved the words in your mind.

Finally, another roar escaped him, but it was a satisfied roar, not a frustrated one. Torrents of heat surged into your center as he held you in place with arms like steel cables, every inch of his body trembling with exertion. He had given you orgasm after orgasm, so you felt it only fair that he get his own now. He’s been a good boy, after all.

He collapsed to the ground next to you, utterly spent, and reached out weakly to touch your body, glistening with sweat.

“Did I do well, mistress?” He asked.

“You were great, my love,” You replied shakily, maneuvering so that you were pressed against him. He closed his arms around you and held you close. For nearly an hour, all you could do was rest in each other’s embrace, panting and recovering.

After you got feeling back in your legs again, you both went to the river for a wash. You splashed the water over your legs and waist and watched him slither effortlessly across the surface of the water as if he were nothing more than a paper boat.

After you were done, you both lay naked side by side on a flat, broad rock to dry in the sunlight.

“That was…” Asker started uncertainly. “Different.”

You tensed. “Bad, different?”

“No, no, not bad,” He said hastily. “Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed it. I just don’t remember you being like that before in our other lives.”

You thought back. “No, neither do I. To be honest, I rather shocked myself. But I’m always slightly different in each life. Maybe this is _this_ life’s personality asserting itself.” You looked at him apprehensively. “Are you… alright with it? Does me being dominant bother you?”

He looked thoughtfully. “It’s strange. For a naga, being the alpha is our one and only goal. It means we are in charge of our own lives and not answerable to anyone. Before I met you, that was my singular desire, to be the alpha in my territory. No one could challenge me, and my claims and property would be protected by my name alone.”

“But?” You asked.

“But…” He sighed. “Giving up control to you, calling you my alpha, was…” He tried to find a word that would sum up what he felt. “Thrilling. Natural. You’re the only person I’d ever acknowledge as my true alpha. And you’re not even naga. It’s not bad, like I said. It’s just strange. Naga’s don’t give up control without a fight, and it’s usually to the death. But all you have to do is kiss me and I surrender everything I am.”

“For humans, that’s just called love,” You replied.

He chuckles. “Love is rare for nagas. We’re too busy fighting each other over everything. Territory, food, mates. Sometimes we fight our mates for the right to mate. It seemed normal to me before I met you.” He sighed. “A lot of the things humans do still baffles me. Collecting useless trinkets, wearing garments when it’s not cold, killing each other over silly things like those chips of metal… what are they called…? Money?” He grimaced. “There’s a lot about your race that I don’t think I’ll ever understand.”

He was silent for a few minutes, but you felt like he had more to say, so you waited for him to formulate the thoughts into words.

“Once, when I was close to a human village, I observed a man bring a woman a flower. At the time, it seemed stupid. He’d plucked the flower out of the ground, so it was dead now. He’d just given her a dead thing. It seemed completely asinine.

“But then, when you had the fever and asked me to sing for you, I saw the same look on your face that I had seen on the woman’s when she received the flower. She had been happy, and so were you. I realized the man had given her the flower just to see her smile, and it made sense. My singing serves no real purpose out here, but you always smile at me when I do it, so I do it often, because I want to see you smile. Nagas don’t behave this way. It’s foreign to me, but at the same time, I am enthralled with it.”

You smiled and sat up, looking down at him were he lay in the sun. The light filtering through the trees made him look god-like, with the shimmering scarlet scales and lovely brown skin. You pressed a kiss to his lips.

“I want to make you happy, too,” You told him.

“You do,” He said. “I love you. Having you here makes me happy, even if it also makes me worry.”

You chuckled at him. “That’s love, too.”

“There’s a lot to learn about love, it seems,” He said looking up at the canopy.

You lay your head in the crook of his arm, and he circled you in his embrace, rubbing your chilled shoulders.

“I’m a good teacher, and besides, you have to listen to me anyway,” You said seductively, trailing a finger up his neck and pressing a kiss to his chest. “You have some babies to earn.”

You could see every single needle-sharp tooth in his mouth as he grinned. Without warning, he wrapped you up in his tail and dove into the river. You came up gasping and slapping water at him.

“I’m adding a penalty for that!” you shouted, wiping the water from your eyes.

He laughed, the first real laugh you ever heard him make, long and happy. Well, maybe you could let it slide this one time.


End file.
